Box-car construction.



Patient-ed Dec. 7,1915.

WITNESSES:

a A TTOR/VE Y HENRY E. MOSS, OF KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI.

BOX-CAR CONSTRUCTION.

T 0 all "whom it may concern Be it known that I, HENRY E. Moss, a citizen of the l uited States, residing at Kansas City, in the county of Jackson and State of Missouri, have invented certain new and useful 1m rovements in Box-(ar (.onstruction, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to box cars and has for its object to produce a door construction equally serviceable for cars when loaded with grain, furniture or othercommodities or merchandise which require pro tection against loss by leakage, damage from the elements or by unauthorized appropriation.

A further object is to produce a means for sealing the side edges of the door against grain leakage from the car and fastening means for cooperating with the sealing means in forcing the lower end of the door into grain-tight relation with the door sill.

Another object is to produce a main door provided with a loading-door-controlled opening and a load-rcleasing-door-controlled opening and fastening means forthe main door and the doors of said openings, bearing a cooperative relation whereby it is impossible to fasten the main door until the doors carried thereby are first fastened and which also makes it necessary to unfasten the main door before the other doors can be unfastened.

A still further object is to produce a door of simple, strong, durable and inexpensive construction.

\Vith these objects in view, the invention consists in certain novel and peculiar features of construction and combination of parts as hereinafter described and claimed, and in order that it may be fully understood reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1, is a side view of a car embodying my invention. Fig. 2, is a section on the line II--II of Fig. 1. Fig. 3, is a detail perspective view of one of the track roller brackets.

In the said drawing 1 indicates abox car, 2 one of the side door openings and 3 and 4 the posts of the door frame.

5 is a door preferably of sheet metal so that it will be impossible for any one to nail it in position and said door is provided with marginal inwardly projecting flanges 6, which serve to give body to the door and for Specification of Letters Patent.

stiffening and strengthening the same. Around its edge the door is provided with a wood or equivalent vertical filling strip 7, and at the edge-where the fastening devices, hereinafter mentioned are. the car is provided with an abutment or stop 8, to limit closing movement of the door.

The door may be supported for the usual edgewise operation in any suitable manner. As shown the upper and lower edges of the door are fitted in grooved bars 9 secured horizontally to the car and to enable the door to be operated easily it is preferably equipped with track rollers 10 to run upon the lower bar 9. The track rollers are preferably secured in place by brackets 10 which are secured to the door and extend downward outside the lower grooved bar 9 and terminate in inturned hooks 1O which engage the groove 10 in the lower side of said bar.

The main door 5 is provided near its upper end with a loading opening 11 normally closed by a door 12, provided with end flanges 13 to bear against door 5 at opposite ends of the door opening and limit closing movement of the door 12. said door being hinged preferablyat its lower edge as at 14 to door 5 so that when open no means need be provided to hold it in such position.

Near the bottom of the main door is a load relieving opening 15 normally closed by a door 16 provided with end flanges 17 to'bear against door 5 at opposite ends of opening 15 to limitthe closing movement of door 16, and said door is'hinged at its upper side, by preference at 18 to door 19 is a pivoted fastener or button mounted on door 5 and adapted for fastening the door 12 closed, and 20 is a slide bar pivoted tosaid fastener or button and extending through a pair of keepers :21 secured to door Bar 20 is provided at its free end with an outturned lug 22 which may be utilized as ahandlebut which is also-necessary as a means of providing such end of the bar with a wide end, particularly if the bar is of comparatively thin metal, for a purpose which hereinafter appears.

23 is a pair of turn buttons or fasteners mounted on the main door for fastening door 16 closed. and pivoted to said turn buttons or fasteners 23 is a slide bar 24 extending through keeper 2:) and one of the brackets 10 though it is not necessary that it should extend through such b acket, the bar Patented Dec. '7, 1915.

Application filed May 17, 1915. Serial No. 28,775. i

: bar i Arranged upright on and at the outer side of the door opposite the filling strip 7, is a pair of bolts 27 pivoted at their adjacent ends at '28 to the lever 29 fulcrumed on the door at 3(), between said bolts and pivoted to the latter at opposite sides of its fulcrum point. Said lever is provided with a handle 31 and with an outwardly projecting lug 32 and when in operative position is upright and fitting flatly against the lower bolt 27 with its lug 22 against an outwardly projecting lug 33 on said lower bolt, for a purpose which hereinafter appears. The bolts 27 near their free ends extend slidingly through keepers 31L secured to the door and the upper bolt also extends near its inner end through a wide keeper 35, a like keeper being undesirable for the lower bolt as it would interfere with the operation of the lever.

The upper and lower bolts when in operative position are adapted to stand in the path of unlocking movement of .the bars :20 and2i, and to widen the bolts they are provided with outwardly projecting lugs 36 and 37 respectively, to cooperate with the lugs 22 and 2-]: of said bars in guarding against any possibility of the bars 20 and 2-1 slipping by said bolts when in locking posinon.

The free ends of the bolts are beveled at 38 so as to act as wedges when forced into sockets 39 formed in brackets -l0 which brackets may constitute integral parts of bars 9 if desired. When the bolts are forced home in said sockets they impart supplemental closing movement to the door which .movement through parts hereinafter debut in the scribed is utilized to effect bodily inward movement of the door and thus cause the same to engage the door sill with a graintight relation.

To Seal the joint along the side edges of the door and to effect inward bodily movement of the door so that the joint between its lower end and the door sill shall be made tight, the door is provided with a pair of vertical'resilient tongues etl, which both project laterally in the same direction, that is in the directlon in which the door moves when being closed.- Secured to the outer sides of the door frame, at opposite sides of the opening thereof isa pair of plates forming vertical grooves which open laterally reverse direction to that in which the tongues project, so that when the door is closing the tongues 41 shall onter their respective grooves 42, there being a yielding relation between the tongues and the outer sides of the plates forming the grooves so that the tongues shall act as wedges in entering the grooves and thus cause the door to move bodily inward. It is desirable that either the tongues or the outer sides of the grooved plates shall be resilient so that any contraction, expansion or warpagc of the parts shall be compensated for by yielding action lever, such for instance as a padlock, not

shown, or its equivalent,

From the above description it will be apparent that I have produced a box car embodying the features of advantage enumerated as desirable and I wish it to be understood that while I have shown and described what I now deem the prcfcrred embodiment of the same, I. do not desire to be restricted to the exact details shown and described but reserve the right to make all changes fallin within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

I claim l. A car provided with a door opening, and with vertical grooves opening laterally and in the same direction and located at opposite sides of the door opening, a suitably supported door movable edgewise parallel with the side of the car and provided with vertical laterally projecting flexible wedgetongues, each wedge-tongue being adapted to enter one of said grooves as the door is moving edgewise parallel with the side of the car toward closed position, and withdraw from said groove as the door is reversely moved parallel with the side of the car, to opened position, and means for fastening the door and incidentally imparting additional edgewisc closing movement to the door to force the wedge-tongues more deeply into said grooves and thereby press the door firmly against the sill of the door opening.

A car provided with a door opening, and with vertical grooves opening laterally and in the same direction and located at opposite sides of the door opening, a suitably supported door movable edgewise parallel with the side of the car and provided with vertical laterally projecting flexible wedgetongues, each wedge-tongue being adapted to enter one of said grooves as the door is closed and withdrawn from said groove as the door is opened, wedge-bolts. a lever fulcrumed on the door and connected to the wedge bolts to impart locking movement thereto and thereby additional edgewise movement to the door to cause the grooves and \ve(.lge-tongues to cooperate in clamping the door against the sill ot' the door opening.

3. The combination with a car provided with a door opening and locking sockets and with a door suitably supported and adapted for edgewise movement along the side of the car to cover or uncover said opening, of vertical tongues projecting laterally from the door in the direction in which the same moves when closing, a pair of vertical grooves opening laterally to receive said tongues, respectively as the door is closed; said tongues and the outer walls of the grooves having a wedge relation whereby they tend to force the door toward the car during the closing movement of the door, and fastening means secured to the door and adapted in entering said sockets if the door is not completely closed, to act as wedges and complete the. closing movement of the door and cause the latter through the wedge relation between the tongues and grooves to bear against the sill of the door openin In testimony whereof, I affix my signature, in the presence of two witnesses.

HENRY E. MOSS. Witnesses:

H. C. RODGERS, G. Y. THORPE. 

